5 Things You Didn’t Know About Snowboarder Red Gerard

Red Gerard is the swearing 17-year-old gold medalist the internet can’t get enough of. We know about his affinity for hitting the snooze button and that powerhouse slopestyle performance, but there’s more to this Olympic snowboarding sensation. Here are five things to know about one of Team USA’s youngest competitors.

His real name is Redmond

Born Redmond Gerard, he’s made a name for himself as “Red.” But as his cheering section demonstrated, he’s also referred to as Reggie and Red-i-o.

He started snowboarding when he was 2

The five-foot-five wunderkind first hit the slopes at a young age, he told Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie after scoring his gold medal. “The kid was 2 years old when we started him snowboarding,” his older brother Brendan told the Associated Press. “By 6, it was inevitable he was going to be something huge.”

He’s one of seven kids

Red is the sixth of the seven kids in the Gerard family. His four older brothers, Brendan, Creighton, Malachi, and Trevor, older sister Tieghan, and younger sister Asher all snowboard, too. Tieghan is also a popular food blogger and cookbook author with more than 470,000 followers on Instagram at @halfbakedharvest. The entire family has been celebrating his big win, from South Korea to his home base in Colorado.

He loves Chipotle

Red has been interviewed while noshing on a burrito, and his local Chipotle knows him well. The love is mutual. After securing gold, the restaurant tweeted, “We like your style, @RedmondGerard. You’ve earned Gold, let us bring the Silver. We want to hook you up with free Chipotle, so come score 87 burritos for you and your friends when you get back to CO. Let’s celebrate!”

He has a snow park in his backyard

Complete with a rope tow and rails, Red’s real-life backyard is where he practices on powder and films videos with his friends. You can see some of the action on his Instagram account, @redsbackyard, which has just over 5,000 followers.